Print manager system and method for printer selection

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and managing printers includes receiving printer status data associated with a user print job from two or more networked multifunction peripherals. Print job data is compared to the received printer status data. A multifunction peripheral for executing the user's print job is identified in accordance with the comparison. Data identifying the multifunction peripheral includes a subset of the printer status data associated with the identified multifunction peripheral.

1 . A system comprising:
 a network interface configured to
 receive printer status data from a plurality of multifunction peripherals, and 
 receive, from a device user, print job data associated with a print job from the device user's computing device; and 
   a processor and associated memory,
 the memory configured to
 store the printer status data, 
 store user preference data comprising preselected custom printing device preferences specified by each of a plurality of users including the device user, 
 
 the processor configured to
 compare the print job data and the device user's user preference data to printer status data associated with each of the plurality of multifunction peripherals, 
 determine a subset of the multifunction peripherals, based on the compare operation, for executing the user print job, and 
 send data identifying each multifunction peripheral of the subset of multifunction peripherals along with its associated printer status data to the user computing device via the network interface. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the data identifying the at least one multifunction peripheral includes at least a subset of the printer status data associated with the at least one multifunction peripheral. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 generate a list of multifunction peripherals capable of executing the user print job based at least in part on the print job data, and   send the list to the user computing device via the network interface,   wherein the list includes at least a subset of printer status data associated with one of the multifunction peripherals.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the network interface is further configured to receive a priority parameter, and
 wherein the processor is further configured to sort the list of multifunction peripherals, based at least in part on the priority parameter, prior to sending the list to the user computing device.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to filter the list of multifunction peripherals, based at least in part on the priority parameter, prior to sending the list to the user computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the priority parameter is
 a proximity of the user computing device to a multifunction peripheral,   a handicap accessible requirement,   a lowest cost preference,   an earliest estimated completion time preference, or   a preference to not require user intervention on a multifunction peripheral to complete the user print job.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the printer status data for each multifunctional peripheral includes one or more of
 a physical location of the multifunctional peripheral,   data indicative of whether the multifunctional peripheral is handicap accessible,   one or more consumable levels for paper or toner,   one or more printer capabilities associated with paper sizes, paper types, paper capacity, one or two-sided printing, stapling, color or black-and-white print modes, or throughput capacity, or   a cost associated with one or more print modes.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the print job data includes one or more of
 a number of pages in the user print job,   a paper size for the user print job,   a paper type for the user print job,   an indication of one or two-sided printing,   an indication to staple the user print job upon completion, or   an indication to use a color or a black-and-white print mode.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a multifunction peripheral having an intelligent controller that includes the network interface, the processor, and the associated memory.   
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a networked computing system, printer status data from each of a plurality of monitored multifunction peripherals;   receiving, from a device user's computing device, print job data associated with a user print job associated with the device user;   retrieving, from a memory, user preference data comprising custom device preferences preselected by the device user;   comparing, by the networked computing system, the print job data and the user preference with the printer status data;   determining, by the networked computing system and based on the comparing operation, a subset of the monitored multifunction peripherals for executing the user print job; and   sending, to the user computing device, data identifying each multifunction peripheral of the subset of multifunction peripherals for executing the user print job and its associated printer status data.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , furthering comprising:
 polling, by the networked computing system, each of the monitored multifunction peripherals for printer status data.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , furthering comprising:
 generating, by the networked computing system, a list of monitored multifunction peripherals capable of executing the print job based at least in part on the print job data, and   sending, by the networked computing system, the list of monitored multifunction peripherals to the user computing device,   wherein the list includes at least a subset of the printer status data for at least one of the monitored multifunction peripherals in the list.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , furthering comprising:
 receiving, by the networked computing system, a priority parameter for one or more of prioritizing or filtering monitored multifunction peripherals; and   prioritizing, by the networked computing system and based at least in part on the priority parameter, the list of monitored multifunction peripherals prior to sending to the user computing device.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , furthering comprising:
 filtering, by the networked computing system and based at least in part on the priority parameter, the list of monitored multifunction peripherals prior to sending to the user computing device.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the priority parameter is
 a proximity of the user computing device to a multifunction peripheral,   a handicap accessible requirement,   a lowest cost preference,   an earliest estimated completion time preference, or   a preference to not require user intervention on a multifunction peripheral to complete the user print job.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the printer status data for each multifunctional peripheral includes one or more of
 a physical location of the multifunctional peripheral,   data indicative of whether the multifunctional peripheral is handicap accessible,   one or more consumable levels for paper or toner,   one or more printer capabilities associated with paper sizes, paper types, paper capacity, one or two-sided printing, stapling, color or black-and-white print modes, or throughput capacity, or   a cost associated with one or more print modes.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the print job data includes one or more of
 a number of pages in the user print job,   a paper size for the user print job,   a paper type for the user print job,   an indication of one or two-sided printing,   an indication to staple the user print job upon completion, or   an indication to use a color or a black-and-white print mode.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the networked computing system is a multifunction peripheral. 
     
     
         19 . A multifunction peripheral comprising:
 a network interface configured to
 receive printer status data from each of a plurality of other multifunction peripherals, and 
 receive, from a device user, print job data associated with user print job associated with the device user from a user computing device; and 
   an intelligent controller including a processor and a memory
 the memory configured to store
 printer status data, and 
 user preference data comprising preselected custom printing device preferences specified be each of a plurality of users including the device user, 
 
 the processor configured to
 monitor the multifunction peripheral, 
 generate printer status data for the multifunction peripheral, 
 store the printer status data for the multifunction peripheral in the memory, 
 compare the print job data and the device user's user preference data to printer status data associated with each monitored multifunction peripheral including the multifunction peripheral, 
 determine a subset of multifunction peripherals, based on the compare operation, for executing the user print job, 
 send data identifying each multifunction peripheral in the subset of multifunction peripherals and at least a subset of associated printer status data to the user computing device via the network interface, and 
 receiving, from the device user, a selected multifunction peripheral selected from the subset of multifunction peripherals; and 
 
   a document processing engine associated with the selected multifunction peripheral configured to be operated by the intelligent controller to print the user print job.   
     
     
         20 . The multifunction peripheral of  claim 19 , wherein the network interface is further configured to receive a priority parameter, and
 wherein the processor is further configured to sort and filter the list of multifunction peripherals based at least in part on the priority parameter.